Recd 485 approval welcome notice, imminent travel

[minisantu]

I have received an email saying my 485 is approved on June 3. My finger printing was done 2 months ago. I am planning to travel outside the country on June 7 with Advance Parole. My questions are ::

i) Will my AP/H1-B be void if 485 is approved?
ii) Do I have to appear for finger printing again if I get the 485 approval (paper) notice?
iii) Should I get my passport stamped before I leave the country and what happens if I do not get an INFOPASS to do the same before June 7?
iv) Does the paper approval notice (485) provide you with a date to appear with your passport for stamping or can you schedule it say within a 90 day time frame to your convenience?

Thanks a lot in advance for any help in the above. Truly appreciate any quick feedback!


Here are the application/approval dates FYI:
Center: Texas, Category: Outstanding Researcher
I-140-Application Recd 10/13/06 Approved: 10/19/06 (6 days )
Travel Document Filed Recd 10/13/06 Approved 10/27/06
EAD Recd 10/13/06 Approved 11/1/06
485: Concurrent Filing Recd 10/13/06 Approved 6/3/06

 

[nathanss]

post your details

I have received an email saying my 485 is approved on June 3. My finger printing was done 2 months ago. I am planning to travel outside the country on June 7 with Advance Parole. My questions are ::

i) Will my AP/H1-B be void if 485 is approved?
ii) Do I have to appear for finger printing again if I get the 485 approval (paper) notice?
iii) Should I get my passport stamped before I leave the country and what happens if I do not get an INFOPASS to do the same before June 7?
iv) Does the paper approval notice (485) provide you with a date to appear with your passport for stamping or can you schedule it say within a 90 day time frame to your convenience?

Thanks a lot in advance for any help in the above. Truly appreciate any quick feedback!

Please post your details here (dates etc..). It will be certainly useful for the forum.

Thanks

 

[Toxsci]

consider changing your travel plan!!

I have received an email saying my 485 is approved on June 3. My finger printing was done 2 months ago. I am planning to travel outside the country on June 7 with Advance Parole. My questions are ::

i) Will my AP/H1-B be void if 485 is approved?
YES
ii) Do I have to appear for finger printing again if I get the 485 approval (paper) notice?
NO
iii) Should I get my passport stamped before I leave the country and what happens if I do not get an INFOPASS to do the same before June 7?
You don't have to..but if you want to travel it is a quick remedy..I believe you need to have approval notice for that..not 100% sure--you may want to consult your attorney about this.
iv) Does the paper approval notice (485) provide you with a date to appear with your passport for stamping or can you schedule it say within a 90 day time frame to your convenience?
Generally you get card in the mail in say 15 days or so..and you do not need to have it stamped. Again it depends on the type of FP you had..I am guessing you had code3??

Thanks a lot in advance for any help in the above. Truly appreciate any quick feedback!

Congratulations and enjoy your freedom!
Toxsci

 

[dms]

This is tricky one. Technically, your AP is now invalid and can't be used. However, given that you only received the approval email four days before your travel date, and probably won't receive any paper notification before you leave, I suspect you could get away with travelling as-is, and denying any knowledge of the approval on your return. Unfortuntely, this is the sort of question that a lawyer will steer clear of answering, other than giving the most conservative advice of not travelling. Therefore, you will need to make the decision yourself.

 

[gmohdez]

Infopass

We needed to travel and my wife's card never arrived (we filed I-90).
We did infopass appointment, and for Houston they had spots available on the same day, in a matter of three hours she had her passport stamped. We had read that a passport with exp date of at least 6 months was needed, but hers expires in three weeks and they stamped it anyway. We are getting new passports during our trip, but you only need the stamp to get back into the US.
My wife is the primary, and the approval letter took only two days, so you may receive the approval letter before the 7th, in which case you can not claim not to know of approval.
It is also possible that you may be able to schedule the infopass appointment without the actual letter at the latest appointment you can find before your travel, so if the letter arrives you already have the appointment. This, however, will automatically invalidate your AP as you are basically acknowledging that you have been approved.
Difficult choice.

 

[GHEBAUER]

I have received an email saying my 485 is approved on June 3. My finger printing was done 2 months ago. I am planning to travel outside the country on June 7 with Advance Parole. My questions are ::

i) Will my AP/H1-B be void if 485 is approved?
ii) Do I have to appear for finger printing again if I get the 485 approval (paper) notice?
iii) Should I get my passport stamped before I leave the country and what happens if I do not get an INFOPASS to do the same before June 7?
iv) Does the paper approval notice (485) provide you with a date to appear with your passport for stamping or can you schedule it say within a 90 day time frame to your convenience?

Thanks a lot in advance for any help in the above. Truly appreciate any quick feedback!


Here are the application/approval dates FYI:
Center: Texas, Category: Outstanding Researcher
I-140-Application Recd 10/13/06 Approved: 10/19/06 (6 days )
Travel Document Filed Recd 10/13/06 Approved 10/27/06
EAD Recd 10/13/06 Approved 11/1/06
485: Concurrent Filing Recd 10/13/06 Approved 6/3/06

Hi minisantu ,

From what i see your receipts and aprovals dates are in the future , but you've got aproved , so you can delay a little your trip , and wait for your aproval notice , with that i think you can travel with no problem ( but must have a good reason for that at the entry port) !!! But , if i'll be in your place , i will wait more for the card too , or check with them (USCIS or your lawyer) before traveling !!!

Good luck and congratulations on your aproval !!!

4ghebauer

 

[nikkasingh]

either wait for ur card (it is likely to get to you sooner than u expect) or get passport stamped at an infopass location. if you have the card they just scan it as if it was a credit card and you are in. on parole their are umpteen check ups and queries and since you will be denying reciept of an electonically transmitted message, there is a possibility that some one can give you some trouble at entry.

 

[minisantu]

Thanks all

Thank you all for your valuable suggestions. We were lucky to get the InfoPass appmt for July 5 and gave it a shot to get the stamping without the paper version of the 485 approval. They were willing to do that but BUMMER-in their national database (which the Charlotte ASC follows) the case is still pending approval. Apparently TSC updates it in batches and although the LUD was in real time (and hence the email notification), the national database still does not have that updated.

The Immigration Officer told us that we can travel and reenter in AP without hassles and told us to ignore the email approval notification and travel as if 485 is not approved as long as we have valid AP. Hope this helps anyone else in the similar situation.

Thanks again I can't wait to go home!